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Mitchell's Story
This appeared in an Australian Newspaper
Nine year old Mitchel Skeehan has come a long way.
The ocean reef boy performs well at school, plays football, teeball and is working toward a green belt in Martial Arts.
However life has not always been smooth sailing for Mitchell and his family.
Mitchell was pronounced as profoundly deaf at the age of three and is one of only 15 people in WA to have two cochlear implants.
Mother Kathy said she and husband Tony first discovered Mitchell's hearing loss at a routine 7 month hearing test at the local health clinic.
His progress since first receiving the implants, the first at age 3 and the second in March of this year, had been dramatic.
"He has been very sucessful with his speech", she said, "He still lip reads a lot but can talk on the telephone, watch TV and listen to the radio. He has already done so much better in this amount of time than we ever expected."
The multiple implants mean Mitchell can hear from both sides and behind.
In the leadup to the Deafness Awareness Week, from August 25 to August 29, Kathy said it was important to promote support services for parents and families of deaf or hearing impaired children.
Aussie Deaf Kids is an Australian based website offering support to parents. It contains a national resource directory and information about hearing aids, implants, schools, mental health and the causes of hearing loss.
Interested parents can visit aussiedeafkids.com and join the online discussion group.
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